March 10, 1792 - John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute and advisor
to the British king, George III, died in London after playing a significant
role in the politics of the British empire that spawned the American
Revolution.

March 10, 1804 - In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony
was conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to
the United States.

March 10, 1848 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican–American War.

March 10, 1849 - Abraham Lincoln applied for a patent for a
device to lift vessels over shoals by means of inflated cylinders.

March 10, 1858 – Lexicographer Henry Fowler was born in
Tonbridge, England.

March 10, 1862 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought in Lafayette County, Mo.; in the vicinity of
Jacksborough, Tenn.; and at Burke’s Station, Va.

March 10, 1863 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought in the vicinity of Plymouth, N.C. and in the
vicinity of Murfreesborough, Tenn. Two days of skirmishing also began at
Rutherford’s Creek, Tenn.

March 10, 1863 – During the Civil
War, Federal operations against Indians in the Humboldt Military District of
California began, and Federal forces reoccupied Jacksonville, Fla. A five-day
Federal operation between La Fayette and Moscow, Tenn. also began. An offer of
amnesty was also granted to all Federal military personnel who were absent
without proper authorization if they would report back to their unit by April
1.

March 10, 1864 - President Abraham Lincoln signed a brief
document officially promoting then-Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank
of lieutenant general of the U.S. Army, tasking the future president with the
job of leading all Union troops against the Confederate Army.

March 10, 1864 – During the Civil
War, skirmishes were fought in White County, Tenn.; in the vicinity of
Charlestown and Kabletown, West Virginia; and at Clinton and Mayfield, Ky. A
two-day Federal operation encompassing Batesville, Wild Haws and Strawberry
Creek, Ark. began. U.S. Major General Nathaniel P. Banks began to concentrate
Federal troops at New Orleans for what would became known as the Red River
Campaign, which would not end until May 22.

March 10, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish occurred
in the vicinity of Woodville Station, Ala.

March 10, 1865 - Confederate General William Henry Chase
Whiting, a native of Biloxi, Miss., died at age 40 in prison at Governors
Island in New York from the wounds he had suffered at during the fall of Fort
Fisher, North Carolina.

March 10, 1865 – During the Civil
War, a three-day Federal operation between Little Rock and Clear Lake, Ark.
began. A cavalry skirmish was fought at Monroe’s Crossroads, S.C. A skirmish
was also fought at South Quay, Va.

March 10, 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell made the first
successful telephone call. He spoke to his assistant, electrical designer
Thomas Watson, who was in the next room. He said, “Mr. Watson — come here — I
want to see you.”

March 10, 1890 - Juliet Opie Hopkins died at the age of 71
in Washington, D.C. Hopkins served as the Superintendent of Civil War Hospitals
established in Richmond by the State of Alabama during the Civil War. She
became a Confederate heroine for her efforts and her portrait even appeared on
Alabama state bank notes during the Civil War years.

March 10, 1903 – Jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke was born in
Davenport, Iowa.

March 10, 1913 – Harriet (Ross) Tubman, who was born to
slave parents in Dorchester, Md., died at the age of 91 in Auburn, New York.

March 10, 1917 - Less than two weeks after their victorious
recapture of the strategically placed city of Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris River
in Mesopotamia, British troops under the regional command of Sir Frederick
Stanley Maude bore down on Baghdad, causing their Turkish opponents to begin a
full-scale evacuation of the city on the evening of March 10, 1917.

March 10, 1918 - The services conducted by the Rev. D.W.
Haskew at Evergreen Methodist church on this Sunday in honor of the soldier
boys from Evergreen and vicinity were “highly interesting and thoroughly
enjoyed” by one of the largest congregations that had assembled in Evergreen in
a long time. Fifty-seven names were on the honor roll and those were read aloud
by Prof. Bennett. “Our boys across the water and in training camps may be well
assured that the people back home are very deeply interested in them and will
continue to back them up not only with their money but with their prayers until
the victory is won and the world made safe from future wars.”

March 10, 1926 – The first Book-of-the-Month Club book,
“Lolly Willowes, or The Loving Huntsman” by Sylvia Townsend Warner, was
published.

March 10, 1930 – In Lovecraftian fiction, occultist John
Grimlan, who some assert was 300 years old, passed away in a small town just
outside San Francisco. He first appeared in 1937’s “Dig Me No Grave” by Robert
E. Howard.

March 10, 1940 – Playwright and novelist David Rabe was born
in Dubuque, Iowa.

March 10, 1941 - The Brooklyn Dodgers announced that their
players would begin wearing batting helmets during the 1941 season.

March 10, 1948 – Montgomery, Ala. native and icon of the
Jazz Age, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, died at the
age of 47 in a hospital fire in Asheville, N.C.

March 10, 1948 – The City of Evergreen was featured as “One
of the State’s Finest Cities” in the Alabama Local Government Journal, a
bi-weekly newspaper published by the Alabama League of Municipalities.

March 10, 1949 – In Conecuh County, the trial against Elbert
J. Hoomes, who was charged with the murder of his son-in-law Joe Greer, began
in Evergreen, Ala., and the jury later found him not guilty. This was the third
time that Hoomes had been tried since the killing took place on the streets of
Brewton in 1944. He was first tried in Brewton and found guilty but that
verdict was set aside by Judge J.W. Hare, who also granted a change of venue.
The case was tried in Evergreen in November 1947 and at that time Hoomes was
found guilty and given a sentence of 20 years. He appealed, and the supreme
court reversed and remanded the case.

March 10, 1955 – The Monroe Journal reported that the
purchase of a new fire engine for the Town of Excel, Ala. had recently
announced by W.C. Nicholas, Excel mayor. The new vehicle, a Ford purchased from
a Monroeville firm, was having the necessary firefighting equipment installed
by a Birmingham company. Included on the engine was to be a 700-gallon capacity
tank and two 12-foot hose reels which could be attached to fire hydrants.

March 10, 1959 – On this day, 300,000 Tibetans surrounded the Dalai
Lama's palace in an uprising to protest China's nearly decade-long occupation.

March 10, 1965 – Pro Hall of Fame safety and cornerback Rod
Woodson was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He would go on to play for Purdue, the
Pittsburgh Steelers, the San Francisco 49ers, the Baltimore Ravens and the
Oakland Raiders. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.

March 10, 1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacked rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale
civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.

March 10, 1966 - John Dennis Forte, 95, of Beatrice, Ala., a
prominent Monroe County resident and former Monroe County superintendent of
schools, died at his residence on this Thursday. Born on July 17, 1870 in
Monroe County, Forte was a teacher and educator in the Monroe County schools
for 56 years. He served as superintendent in Monroe County from 1901 to 1910.
He was buried in the Buena Vista Cemetery in Monroe County.

March 10, 1968 – During the Vietnam War, the Battle of Lima
Site 85 began and concluded on March 11 with largest single ground combat loss
of United States Air Force members (12) during the war.

March 10, 1969 – Army PFC Billy Wayne Pettis, 21, of Castleberry,
Ala. arrived in Vietnam. He would be killed in action 82 days later.

March 10, 1969 - James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis,
Tenn. to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated the
guilty plea and maintained his innocence until his death in April 1998.

March 10, 1970 -
The U.S. Army accused Capt. Ernest Medina and four other soldiers of
committing crimes at My Lai in March 1968.

March 10, 1975 – During the Vietnam War’s Ho Chi Minh
Campaign, North Vietnamese troops attacked Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their
way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.

March 10, 1978 - CBS began airing the series "The
Incredible Hulk."

March 10, 1978 – Sparta Academy senior Gray Stevens played
on the South All-Star Team in the Alabama Private School Association’s All-Star
Boys Basketball Game at Fort Dale Academy in Greenville, Ala.

March 10, 1982 - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto
and Saturn were all on the same side of the Sun, within a 95-degree wide
interval. In 1974, authors John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann published the
bestseller “The Jupiter Effect,” which wrongly predicted that this planetary
alignment would cause a number of catastrophes including a huge earthquake on
the San Andreas fault on March 10, 1982.

March 10, 1986 – Monroeville (Ala.) Public Works
Superintendent Lyle Salter and other city employees made final adjustments on a
light pole being set on this Monday at Monroeville’s new park on South Mount
Pleasant Avenue. Parks & Recreation Director Michael Smith said he had high
hopes that the Little League and Babe Ruth League baseball fields would be
ready for play the first of May.

March 10-11, 1992 - Weather observer Harry Ellis reported
low temperatures of 29 degrees on both of these days in Evergreen, Ala.

March 10, 1992 - Mr. and Mrs. George Singleton were guests
at the meeting of the 20th Century Club. The meeting was held at the
home of Mrs. Nancie Robinson with Mrs. Fay Helton, president, leading the
program. The Singletons gave a program on the founding and location of early
churches in Monroe County.

March 10, 1993 – Judge Sam Welch sentenced Wayne Holleman
Travis to death by electrocution for the murder of Clarene Haskew in December
1991. Travis was transferred immediately to Holman Prison in Atmore, Ala. “I’m
sorry she’s dead. I can’t do anything about that,” were the words spoken by
Travis shortly before Welch announced that the convicted murderer would be
sentenced to death by electrocution.

March 10, 1993 - Sherry Davis became the first woman to be
the public address voice of a Major League Baseball team. She was the public
address announcer for the San Francisco Giants.

March 10, 1993 – Hillcrest High School’s baseball team was
scheduled to play a rematch against Wilcox Central on this Wednesday afternoon.

March 10, 1995 - The area known as Bottle Creek was declared
a National Historic Landmark. Bottle Creek is one of the most important
prehistoric Native American sites in Alabama, second only to Moundville near Tuscaloosa.
Located on Mound Island, in the heart of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, Bottle Creek
is the largest mound complex on the northern Gulf coastal plain.

March 10, 2006 - The Cuban national baseball team played
Puerto Rico in the first round of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. While
the Puerto Rican team was made up of Major League All-Stars, the Cuban team was
largely unknown to the world. Puerto Rico beat Cuba, 12-2.

March 10, 2009 - In Kinston, Ala., Michael McLendon began a
shooting rampage that continued onward into the Geneva County towns of Samson
and Geneva. Ten people were killed and six more were wounded before McLendon
committed suicide.